Sunday Eucharist | 10:30 (Choral)
Beloved in Christ,
There are two changes in our shared life I would like to tell you about.
Deacon Donna Arellano
Deacon Donna has decided she will not be returning to Christ Church as our Deacon. She shares her reasons below. I am grateful for her ministry with me since I arrived, and have missed her at the Table during her sabbatical. While at Christ Church, she spearheaded our FOB Hope ministry with houseless veterans, planted One Parish One Prisoner deep into our hearts as our team accompanies Suni, she has preached moving sermons, and consistently put before us our shared call to care for our community and our world in concrete ways. I will continue to miss her passion and enthusiasm for caring for the most vulnerable members of our community.
She will return to us on Sunday, August 23rd, for a final Eucharistic celebration. Then, in accordance with diocesan requirements regarding clergy departures, she will attend elsewhere as she continues her diaconal discernment. Hector is able, and knows that he is welcome, to continue at Christ Church.
Please come celebrate Donna on the 23rd and join us for a joyful coffee hour as we send her out into the world to love and serve God!
From Deacon Donna
Dear friends of Christ Church,
It is with mixed emotions that I am sharing my decision to retire from my diaconal ministry at Christ Church. I have loved my time here, and have grown. You have taught me much, and I hope that I have had a positive impact also. The outreach ministries that we have embarked on together are amazing – OPOP, FOB Hope, supporting Dax and Power of Two, and so much more. Whenever I have put out a call for help, you all have responded. I know that Mother Maria has great plans for you, as well as the Outreach Ministry team.
I feel God’s call in a different direction, but am as yet unsure of what that is. This is not unusual with the Holy Spirit! My call to be a deacon was unexpected, and awesome. I am not walking away from that call, but rather feel the pull to something different. Please keep me in your prayers as I go forward.
I will serve at the Lord’s Table on August 23, and join you for a special coffee hour to celebrate our time together.
Peace and love to you all,
Deacon Donna
The 8am Eucharist
Over the last months I have been in conversation with the regular participants at the 8am liturgy and the Vestry about the continuation of the early Eucharist. Christ Church has had an 8am service attended by dedicated members for as long as anyone can remember. The twelve to fifteen people attending before Covid were just over nine when I arrived, and now are down to six stalwart regulars. Our rare visitors are typically passing through Tacoma and need an early service before family activities. A service that in the past has been supported by multiple clergy and a more robust staff team is now supported by one clergy and part-time staff.
After conversation and discussion with the 8 o’clock regulars, leadership, and the Vestry, we have discerned that it is time to bring the 8am Eucharist to a close. I have spoken to the 8am regulars multiple times as a group and individually, listening to what they love about this service, what elements they find essential, discussing honestly what they will miss if those elements cannot continue at Christ Church, and discerning our next steps. For some, there has been joy and comfort in discovering well-attended early Sunday services at nearby parishes. Others will shift to the 10:30 service. The regulars I spoke to expressed that they understand why this decision makes sense, while also sharing that this is a significant loss of something that has been important for many, many years. Those of us who have attended this service regularly will miss it: the early time, the measured pace, the room for silence. I will miss praying in a more intimate space, the opportunity to have more conversational sermons, and a restful opening to a busy Sunday morning.
As the Vestry discerned this decision, the most compelling element was the recognition that as a community we need to create space in our shared life to allow fruit already planted to grow and new seeds to take root. Bishop Phil has been leading us in “zimzum discipleship,” a practice of making space in ourselves and our communities to allow new creation to come forth. Making space often means bringing to an end beloved practices so that we can focus our energy. In God’s creation a new hole in the tree canopy allows light to reach the forest floor. It is with heavy and prayerful hearts that the Vestry is hoping this new space will give us the opportunity to discern what other forms of worship and community may thrive at Christ Church.
I grew up with this daily prayer: “Heavenly King, Comforter, and Spirit of Truth, who is everywhere and in all things….” It is for me a foundational belief: the Spirit is everywhere. I know that for some, this ending feels as if their place of deep connection with God is being taken away. I also know that God will meet all of us in both new and old places. Ecclesiastes reminds us that for everything there is a season, a time for weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing. This is our season at Church: a season of honestly recognizing the limits of what we can do, of exploring new ways of being together, so that we can become deeper disciples of Jesus together.
May we do so with grace, patience, mourning and laughing together as we are able.
Please come and join us on September 13th for the last 8am Eucharist, where we will pray in thanksgiving for what this service has planted in our community, and pray alongside our friends as they discern their changing participation in our community.
In the Peace of God,
Mother Maria and the Vestry